Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 335: Crimson Soil (8)

Dragon Raja 3

Now, the entire Japanese underworld knew that the leader of the main family had changed, and Chisei had instantly become the center of attention. Most people would rush to curry favor with him, but some would try to harm him. The remnants of the Oni Clan saw him as their greatest enemy. Yet, Chisei’s only bodyguard was Sakura, who also doubled as his special assistant. The role of the family head’s special assistant was a high-ranking position, and in history, it had never been held by an assassin-turned-officer. But Chisei insisted on this arrangement, and no opposition could sway him.

Some said Chisei favored nepotism, but Sakura knew this was just his personality—he never fit in with the underworld family. He had been trained in various ways to one day inherit the position of family head, but for many years, he had remained a ghost-slayer, detached from the family, communicating with only a few people, without the ability to control the entire Japanese underworld. Yet now, this very person had decided to shoulder the responsibilities of the family head. Sakura didn’t know where Chisei had gone with Tachibana the previous night, but after that night, Chisei seemed like a different person.

Chisei sat under the pale sky, gazing at the approaching storm clouds, his entire being appearing as pale as paper. He hadn’t rested for three days.

“Still no news about Erii?” Chisei asked.

“Not yet, but no one in this world can hurt her. Rest assured, we’ll keep searching.”

“Do you know? This is her twelfth attempt to run away from home. In the previous eleven attempts, the longest she managed was two hours,” Chisei said quietly.

“It seems she really hates staying at home,” Sakura replied.

“Once, during a medical checkup, she secretly ran away from home. We had everyone in the city searching for her. In the end, I found her at a traffic light just one block away, crying on an empty street. She wasn’t as tall then as she is now. I walked up behind her, picked her up, and she showed me a note she wrote: ‘The world is so big.’”

“She didn’t know how big the world was, but she still stubbornly wanted to go out,” Sakura said.

“Yes, that little girl who cried at the first intersection now hasn’t come home in 46 hours,” Chisei said. “I don’t know if I’ve gotten used to it or if I’ve become numb. I’m not as anxious anymore. Maybe girls always have to go far away as they grow up. No one wants to spend their life being someone else’s weapon… Increase the bounty to 3 billion yen. Put up missing person notices on TV and radio. Report to the police.”

“Understood… It’s going to rain. We should head back,” Sakura said softly.

“I’m waiting for the rain to fall. It helps me relax, even if just a little,” Chisei replied. “You go ahead and rest. Don’t worry, there aren’t many people in this city who can kill me.”

Sakura remained silently standing behind him, not moving.

“What is it? Something you want to ask?” Chisei poured himself a glass of Yamazaki whiskey, one of the few things that allowed him a moment of relaxation.

“Can mercury and thermite incendiary bombs really kill the god?” Sakura asked slowly.

Chisei paused. “Why do you ask that all of a sudden?”

“In past dragon-slaying cases, the things that dealt lethal damage to Dragon King-level targets were often beyond scientific explanation. For example, Principal Anjou’s mysterious folding knife or the alchemical weapon known as ‘Seven Deadly Sins,’ said to have been forged by the King of Bronze and Fire himself. Only Caesar Gattuso once killed a Dragon King using a storm torpedo—a man-made weapon. But that dragon-slaying case was full of doubts, and in the end, Norton’s remains were never found,” Sakura said. “Even in the myth of Susanoo, mercury only weakened the Yamata no Orochi. It was the Totsuka-no-Tsurugi that ultimately killed it, and that weapon was beyond human understanding.”

Chisei was silent for a long time. “You’re even smarter than I thought.”

“But you still agreed to this plan.”

“Yes, as you said, the things that have caused fatal damage to Dragon King-level targets have always been beyond scientific explanation. The so-called Hybrids are people who use the power of the dragons to kill dragons. The legendary Totsuka-no-Tsurugi has long since disappeared—we don’t even know what it really was. Whether mercury and thermite incendiary bombs can replace it, I don’t know. But we still have other weapons at our disposal. If Miyamoto’s plan fails, the one to jump into the Red Well won’t be him—it will be me.”

“I’ve already guessed that,” Sakura said softly.

“My presence will certainly excite the god, right? We’re all food the god has prepared for itself. My blood has what it wants—high-purity dragon genes. If it wants to eat me, then fine. It can eat me along with the thermite incendiary bombs and 5,000 tons of mercury.”

“There’s no other way?”

“If I fail, then we’ll have no choice but to throw Erii into that well,” Chisei said, his voice heavy. “She’s our final weapon. If even she fails, then there will be no one left in the world who can subdue the god.”

“If I’m not mistaken, Miss Erii is actually an Oni, right?”

“Yes, she’s an Oni, the strongest Oni in history. Her Yanling, ‘Judgement,’ is the most powerful Yanling humanity has ever possessed. The family needs her abilities. She was raised as a weapon, always prepared to be sacrificed.”

“No wonder you and Masamune have always been so concerned about her.”

“That concern is hypocritical, like a samurai polishing his blade—when the time comes to use it in battle, even if the sword is broken, it must be drawn.”

“Indeed. If you want to watch the rain, I’ll fetch you an umbrella.”

“After hearing such a cruel truth, you don’t have any opinions? Don’t you want to call me despicable or cruel?” Chisei asked, a bit curious.

Sakura had learned such a shocking secret, yet she showed no surprise or fear—her expression remained calm. It seemed as if she had just wanted to ask a few questions and got the answers she expected, nothing unexpected.

“I don’t think so. We’re all weapons. When one breaks, you just draw the next one. You see yourself as a weapon too, don’t you?” Sakura paused. “We’re all deadly tools, sharing the same fate. That’s enough for mutual understanding. I’ll go get the umbrella.”

“If everything gets resolved smoothly, I’d like to spend some time in Montalivet, France. It’s a small seaside town, not far from Marseille, a nice place to relax,” Chisei continued, still gazing at the distant clouds. “Care to join me for a vacation?”

The words slipped out, as if bypassing his mind entirely. Yasha, Crow, and Sakura all knew that he had little interest in being the family head and had always wanted to leave this country to live freely. But Chisei had never told them his destination was Montalivet—he didn’t want too many people knowing where he went so he could escape the Japanese underworld and assume a completely different identity. Once he left, Sakura would manage his finances, and the money he made would be enough for Yasha and Crow to live their lives. They’d all go their separate ways. Chisei had never thought of taking any of them with him… but when Sakura said, “We’re all deadly tools, sharing the same fate,” something stirred in his heart, like a silent string plucked, sending dust flying.

Yasha’s words seemed to make sense too. Going so far away, and not knowing French, perhaps he should take a beautiful woman with him. If it were him and Sakura, would they sit by the sea for hours without speaking? Just watching the ocean and applying sunscreen for each other.

“It would be my honor,” Sakura replied.

The rain finally began to fall, and Chisei, lying on the table, drifted off to sleep. Sakura knelt beside him, holding the umbrella.